14 NYC schools, including Bronx campus where student was fatally stabbed, will be closed

Share this:

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

WEST FARMS, the Bronx — Fourteen New York City public schools are slated for closure, and one is on course to be transitioned to a different status next school year, the Department of Education announced Monday morning. It's a radical change in a school system that has, on average, closed three schools a year since 2000, and which serves a total of 1.1 million students.

"Every school [closure proposal] was done for a different reason," said Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina at a Monday morning news conference. "I think we did this very very carefully. We did a lot of work on this."

Her assessment, though, was doubted by many families, teachers and students at the schools on the chopping block.

"Our students were crying during the morning today," said Rosindo Mejia, the parent coordinator at the High School for Health Careers and Sciences in Washington Heights. He's also the parent of two students at the school.

"This is the school that has [the most] parents involved in New York City," he said.

However, he pointed out, that while students were told about the proposed closure Monday morning, many parents weren't aware until they got home Monday night. They got a letter sent home.

Across four boroughs, nine schools that were on a list of academically challenged, or "Renewal List," schools will be closed. One middle school will become a high school and five other schools will be shut down.

A glaring name on the list of the five other schools was the Urban Assembly for Wildlife Conservation, near the Bronx Zoo. A student was fatally stabbed there.

"They're going to move [the students] somewhere else, and it might happen somewhere else," said Luna Dennis, the mother of Matthew McCree, a student who was fatally stabbed by classmate Abel Cedeno three months ago in classroom at the Urban Assembly School.

It was a possible case of self defense, but whatever the case, the school has been under a bright spotlight, and its inclusion on the list adds to the scrutiny, though not necessarily in a good way.

The closing of this school along with more than a dozen others "is an attempt to bury" the news, said attorney Sanford Rubinstein. Rubinstein represents the McCree's family, who are not pleased at all with the closure news.

"Fix the issue," said Dennis. At the school, on Mohegan Avenue, she said, the students are "in their comfort zone."

"Why take them out?" she asked. "Let them stay, not to let the Board of Ed look like they're doing something for us. They're not if they close the school."

For her part, Chancellor Fariña said that the decision was the result of extensive analysis and contemplation.

"This is really based on my going to the school and talking with all the present stakeholders," Fariña told PIX11 News.

She's visited give times since the fatal stabbing including as recently as last Friday.

The “Renewal School” program aims to support long-struggling campuses by setting clear goals and providing targeted resources, department officials said.

School officials were advised each campus would be held accountable for “sustainable improvement,” and the nine schools selected to close have not seen sufficient improvement, department officials said Monday. Chancello Fariña hopes students at these schools will be better served at higher-performing schools.

Other schools faced closure for different reasons, including being too small, Fariña said.

One “Renewal School” will be truncated as part of a plan to revamp the high school’s arts program, and five others will be merged with other campuses. In addition, 21 schools part of the program that have seen “strong and steady gains” will be designated “Rise Schools.” The remaining 46 “Renewal Schools” will receive increased support and oversight.

“Rise School” is a new designation that includes schools meeting at least 67 percent of their benchmarks, are not on the state’s priority list and have demonstrated a sustainable school improvement structure, department officials said. The campuses will continue to receive targeted support and face monitoring, but with more autonomy.

Timeline

All impacted families should have received a letter Monday and phone call from a Department of Education staffer explaining the proposal, department officials said. Specific dates and times for community meetings will be offered in that letter and phone call.

Each school proposed for closure, truncation or merger will hold at least one community meeting by Jan. 15, 2018, led by the superintendent or a member of their team at the school, officials said.

Proposals for schools facing closure and truncation will be posted in January, and voted on Feb. 28, 2018. If approved, closures would take place at the end of the current school year, and the truncated school would no longer serve students in the truncating grades after the end of the current school year.

Proposals for schools facing merger will be posted by the beginning of February, and voted on March 21, 2018. Schools would be merged for the 2018-19 school year, if approved.Nine

“Renewal School” proposed to be closed:

PS 050 Vito Marcantonio

Coalition School for Social Change

High School for Health Careers and Sciences

New Explorers High School

Urban Science Academy

PS 92 Bronx School

Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School

PS/MS 42 R. Vernam

MS 53 Brian Piccolo

Five schools not part of the program proposed to be closed:

KAPPA IV

Academy for Social Action

Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute

Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation

Eubie Blake Schoo

Five “Renewal School” proposed for merger:

Holcombe L. Rucker School of Community and Longwood Preparatory Academy — Longwood Preparatory Academy will be the prevailing school. Both schools are Renewal Schools, both schools are in the same building, and the merged school will remain in the Renewal program next year.

Accion Academy and Entrada Academy – Accion Academy, which is not in the Renewal program, will be the prevailing school.

East Flatbush Community and Research School and Middle School of Marketing and Legal Studies – East Flatbush Community and Research School, a Rise school, will be the prevailing school. Both schools are in the same building.

Middle school grades of Gregory Jocko Jackson School and Brownsville Collaborative Middle School – Brownsville Collaborative Middle School, which is not in the Renewal program, will absorb the middle school grades of Gregory Jocko Jackson School. The elementary school grades at Gregory Jocko Jackson School will remain in the Renewal program.

Renewal School” proposed for truncation:

Middle school grades of Wadleigh Secondary School for The Performing Visual Arts – next year, the school will serve students in grades 9-12. Wadleigh will enter the Arts High School Planning Process, which will include additional funding and extensive support from the Education Department’s Office of Arts and Special Projects. The goal is to make the campus one of the city’s top audition arts high schools.